Unsimulated sex is the presentation in a mainstream film of sex scenes where the actors engage in an actual sex act, and are not just miming or simulating the actions. At one time in the United States such scenes were restricted by law and self-imposed industry standards such as the Motion Picture Production Code. Films showing explicit sexual activity were confined to privately distributed underground films, such as stag films or "porn loops". Beginning in the late 1960s, most notably with Blue Movie by Andy Warhol, mainstream cinemas began pushing boundaries in terms of what was presented on screen. Although the vast majority of sexual situations depicted in mainstream cinema are simulated (in early pornography, the main actors engaged in simulated sex, with inserts placed in the film), on rare occasions actors engage in real sex. The difference between these films and pornography is that, while such scenes might be considered erotic, the intent of these films is not solely pornographic.

Notable examples include two of the eight Bedside-films and the six Zodiac-films from the 1970s, all of which were produced in Denmark and had many pornographic sex scenes, but were nevertheless considered mainstream films (they all had mainstream casts and crews, and premiered in mainstream cinemas). The last of these films, Agent 69 Jensen i Skyttens tegn, was made in 1978. From the end of the 1970s until the late 1990s it was rare to see hardcore scenes in mainstream cinema, but this changed with the success of Lars von Trier's The Idiots (1998), which heralded a wave of art-house films with explicit content, such as Romance (1999), Baise-moi (2000), Intimacy (2001), Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny (2003), and Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs (2004). Some simulated sex scenes are sufficiently realistic that critics mistakenly believe that they are real, such as the cunnilingus scene in the 2006 film Red Road.

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Films with confirmed unsimulated sexual activity

The following mainstream films have scenes with real/unsimulated sex, meaning actors are filmed engaging in actual sexual intercourse or performing related sexual acts such as fellatio and cunnilingus. These scenes have been confirmed either through visual on-screen evidence, or via the actors themselves in interviews.

Caligula (1979) - Uncut version of this film includes several unsimulated sex scenes, including penetration and fellatio. None of the big-name actors involved in this Tinto Brass-directed film participate in these scenes

Emmanuelle V (1985) - Two versions of this film were released: an R-rated version and a hardcore version with several unsimulated sex scenes inserted (none of the added material feature the film's star, Monique Gabrielle).

La Pianiste (2001) (English title: The Piano Player) - 20 seconds of pornographic film in a film scene.

Irréversible (2002) - A few brief glimpses of unsimulated sex (homosexual activity at a club early in the movie, a second-worth of fellatio at a party later on). The central rape scene of the movie, however, is simulated.

Ken Park (2002) - Various sexual acts including fellatio, cunni lingus and an on screen ejaculation.

Le loup de la côte Ouest (2002) (English title: The Wolf of the West Coast) - Unknown actress performs unsimulated fellatio in an orgy club scene.

La Chatte à deux têtes (2002 (English title: Porn Theater (USA)/Glowing Eyes (International: English title) Features unsimulated male/male fellatio in several scenes, a man ejaculating onto another and anal sex. (Although the latter is filmed at such an angle it is hard to tell if it was unsimulated or not.)

Bodysong (2003) - This documentary also includes 60 seconds of X-rated material, unsimulated fellatio and penetration.

Fallo! (2003) - This Tinto Brass-directed film includes scenes of unsimulated fellatio and female genital fingering.

Rossa Venezia (2003) - This German sexploitation horror film includes several scenes of high voltage sexual content including unsimulated fellatio and penetration.

The Real Cancun (2003) - Several couples in this documentary are briefly shown from a distance and via night vision cameras having actual intercourse although nothing explicit is visible in the released version.

Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye (2004) - Contains several explicit sexual scenes, including male and female masturbation, male-male fellatio and intercourse, female-female cunnilingus and usage of a double-headed dildo, female-male fellatio and intercourse (intercourse is only visible from a distance in a mirror).

8mm 2 (2005) - The US "Unrated & Exposed" version of this sequel to the film 8mm features a scene in which the players visit the set of a pornographic film. On the set, a woman is shown performing unsimulated cunnilingus.

Kissing on the Mouth (2005) - This independent film shot on a digital camera features many scenes of heterosexual sex (most likely simulated), however contains one scene where an actor masturbates in the shower with a close up of his climax (obviously unsimulated).

Destricted (2006) - This series of short films includes scenes of unsimulated vaginal, anal and oral sex, male and female masturbation, sex with an inflatable doll, and objects inserted into an anus.

Shortbus (2006) - Several actors in Canadian film perform confirmed unsimulated intercourse and other sexual acts, including TV personality and singer Sook-Yin Lee.

Films showing unsimulated object penetration

Another variation on this theme are mainstream films in which digital or object penetration of a vagina is shown. Several of the films listed above such as Romance show this act in addition to the other unsimulated content. Films that also show some sort of penetration (as the maximum explicit content) include:

Emmanuelle (1974) - in the first film in this long-running series, a dancer is shown inserting a cigarette into her vagina and then blowing smoke out of it.

Pornography films re-edited for mainstream release

Prior to the advent of home video, a number of hardcore pornography films were released to mainstream cinemas. In most cases, scenes of penetration were either cut out or replaced with alternate shots. One exception to this was Deep Throat, which was released uncensored.

Examples of this type of hybrid release include Alice in Wonderland (1976), shot as X-rated, but first released as an R-rated version—afterwards, the uncut version was released; Café Flesh (1982)—the R-rated version of this science fiction porn film was released to mainstream cinemas; Stocks and Blondes (1984), originally available as Wanda Whips Wall Street; and Droid (1988), originally released as Cabaret Sin in 1987.